You might be tempted to argue that the offense is to blame for him having gone this long without getting a win.

That issue has since come and gone.

After posting a 2.92 ERA in his first nine starts, Lee is 0-4 with a 7.30 ERA (24 2/3 IP, 20 ER) and an opponents batting average of .337 in his last four outings.

He's given up four or more earned runs in each of his last four starts, and three times in that stretch he's given up at least five.

Even when things went south for Lee last July (4.91 ERA, .287 BAA), he wasn't handing out free passes as frequently (he walked only five in 33.0 innings pitched in July 2011). Over his last four starts, he's walked more (8) in fewer innings pitched (24 2/3 IP).

This is hardly the markings of a pitcher making $21.5 million this year.

But then again, should we really be that surprised?

Lee has a history of rough stretches.

In a string of five starts from Aug. 11-31, 2010, Lee was 0-3 with an 8.28 ERA (27 ER, 29.1 IP).

During five starts last July, he was 2-3 with a 4.91 ERA (18 ER, 33.0 IP) with an opponents batting average of .287.

This stretch, however, has lasted three months.

The key now will be whether he can get back on track. He doesn't have to be the guy who won five consecutive games last July, three of which were complete-game shutouts (0.21 ERA, 0.69 WHIP).

Outings in which he goes at least seven innings, walks only one or two and posts an ERA in the 3.00 to 3.50 would suffice.

Right now, though, his season ERA is 4.13, the highest it's been this late in a season since 2007. Things went so awry for him that year he wound up in Triple-A for a month and ended his big league campaign with a 6.29 ERA.

Concerns also lie with his frame of mind right now.

"When I talk to him, he seems fine," Manuel told writers in Florida on Friday night.

Maybe that's part of the problem.

Maybe he needs to be angry, frustrated, annoyed, disappointed. Something. Anything other than "fine."

But Lee has said over and over, and re-enforced it again Friday in Florida, that he's not frustrated about being winless. By the sound of it, he seemed disappointed that he didn't make it out of the fifth inning, and he should be. It was his shortest outing of the season and the first time he gave up six earned runs.

Lee needs to turn things around, and fast for this team, which after Friday's loss, dropped to a season-high seven games below .500, making it the first time that had happened since being 4-11 on April 20, 2007.

Lee is paid to be a stopper in this rotation, and he hasn't been, especially lately. And it's a downtrend now being mimicked by the rest of the rotation in the last month.

Since Roy Halladay went on the disabled list May 29 with a right lat strain, Phillies starters have posted a 5.19 ERA (101 ER, 175 IP) entering Saturday's game.

Halladay left his start on May 27 against St. Louis after pitching only two innings. Two days later he went on the DL (although the move was retroactive to May 28). The right-hander threw off a mound Friday for the first time since getting hurt, and pitching coach Rich Dubee told reporters in Miami that the bullpen session came "probably a few days early."

But what that means for him in the long run appears to be a well-kept secret.

Halladay was originally given a recovery time of 6 to 8 weeks.

Dubee, though, wouldn't reveal to writers in Florida whether or not Halladay is ahead of that pace (the six-week mark is July 8, the last game before the All-Star break. Dubee also wouldn't say when Halladay would throw next, nor would he say if/when he would begin a minor league rehab assignment.

Michael Morse (Washington Nationals) … The right fielder is showing no signs of having a tough time getting into the swing of things. Since returning from a right lat tear, Morse, 30, has hit .294 in 25 games. He's been particularly hot in the previous week. In his last seven games, he hit .484 (15-for-31), which leads all National League hitters during that time frame. He had one double, two home runs, six RBIs and nine runs scored.